But then the Internet made the operating system you use to access
it from your PC irrelevant.

Now Google is getting scrutiny in Washington
and in Europe because it owns so much of the search market.

But did you know that you hold the end of Google search in
the palm of your hand?

Google makes money because people search the Web for stuff they
want to buy (or for information about stuff they want to
buy). Google brings them back a list of links to Web pages
and ads. The ads are often as relevant as the links to Web pages
and so users click on them, ringing Google's cash register.

But here's the thing. I buy lots of stuff on the Internet,
almost. I buy groceries. I buy movie tickets. I buy plane
tickets. I book golf tee times. I order pizza. I buy Christmas
presents from Amazon.

Google doesn't take part in any of the transactions at all.

That's because I do all this commerce not through the Web or
through Google search; I do it through apps on my phone.

Check it out:

]

Now, at some point, I do search for these apps, just like I would
search for Web pages. But I don't use Google search to find them.
I use Apple's App Store.

My search results look like this:

Right now, Apple isn't
showing any ads in them, but that'll change. When it does, it
will mean less money for Google ads.

The good news for Google is that its mobile operating system,
Android, owns a healthy slice of the
smartphone market. It will be able to put ads in its own app
store.

The bad news is that share is much smaller than its market share
in search, where it also faces much weaker competition.